First lady Melania Trump’s calls for peace and healing have reportedly angered the West Wing.
A White House official told CNN that the contrast between the messages of the first lady and the president in response to the nationwide protests “doesn’t help.”
“It frustrates the West Wing,” the official said.
On Monday, the first lady asked for demonstrators to protest in peace and focus on the “healing our great nation” around the same time her husband was on a call with governors telling them they looked “weak” for not being able to “dominate” the protests.
Her softer tone has carried through in her other tweets about the unrest. The president, meanwhile, labeled the protesters “thugs” and also said that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” a phrase with racial overtones.
“Our country allows for peaceful protests, but there is no reason for violence,” the first lady tweeted later.
The timing of her tweets has raised eyebrows.
“There’s a feeling of deliberateness to her timing that makes it seem even more disjointed,” said one person familiar with the first lady’s actions.
The West Wing has thus left the East Wing out of conversations about the response to the unrest. The first lady’s name was not mentioned when Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Hope Hicks planned the president’s walk to St. John’s Episcopal Church, a person with knowledge of the meetings said.
“First Lady Melania Trump cares deeply for the American people, and her messages of comfort, encouragement, healing, and peace are an important part of the president’s commitment to stop the violence and restore security to our neighborhoods,” said Judd Deere, the White House deputy press secretary.
Deere added that the first lady’s office and the West Wing “are in regular communication.”
The East Wing did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
The first lady has done little, at least publicly, beyond tweeting to ease the unrest related to the death of George Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes as he pleaded for his life.
